WTF WTTM!!!

I should begin by documenting the fact that last night the telescope operator told me that I must be a glutton for punishment.  Unsure of how to take that, I hesitated a moment so that she would explain, and she did so by telling me that most astronomers don't stay up the whole night before their run just to watch someone else observe, and then proceed to stay up the entire first night of a run marred by clouds and humidity.  She seemed to imply that others would have given up.  But not me!  I prefer to call it optimism, not gluttony and certainly not punishment.

Sunsets seen from the mountain are really pleasant times during an observing run.  Zen moments before the rush to observe.

Well, to further prove my naivety as an observer, tonight we attempted (and had some success!!) to use an instrument here called the "WIYN Tip Tilt Module (WTTM)", which uses a form of adaptive optics to correct for instabilities in the atmosphere and make our images more crisp.  WTTM does this by making small adjustments in the orientation of its optics, keeping a (bright) guide star stable in the field of view.  This adds a level of complexity to the observations, and the telescope operator must pay much more attention to the observing set-up.  As a result, using WTTM can sometimes be less efficient, and often times much more frustrating, than typical guiding.

But, that didn't scare me!  Two telescope operators were working together to make WTTM a success, and we forged ahead with several really great observations.  Then, some clouds rolled in, leaving our guide star obscured, and coaxing us back to our alternate observing method, which still requires a guide star, but the star can be fainter and the guiding is less complex.  We're continuing with our observations, and several breaks in the clouds have given us very good conditions (also known as "good seeing").  

What have I learned about WTTM?  Don't be afraid of a little challenge if it means the data are better.  After all, I don't do astronomy because it's easy, but rather because the journey is always exciting and I'm bound to learn something(s) new along the way.